Continual Firefox Freezes

Generally speaking, I'm normally pretty good with stuff like this, but I'm at a loss for a reasonable explanation at the moment, so I'm hoping the tech-heads of FFXIAH can help!


2 weeks ago I built a new PC from scratch, it's roughly 2~3 times better than my old PC, but I'm having some issues with it.

Whenever I try to open an Application, it's super super slow (sometimes taking ~2-3min to open it) and with Firefox, it randomly freezes for 10sec to needing a restart.

When I run Final Fantasy, it works fine, I get no lag, no freezes, nothing. When I tab out to Firefox, and start doing anything, it randomly freezes. If I'm typing something and go to correct something I previously wrote (say a spelling error, or an addition to something else), it freezes and ignores what I just wrote/where I just clicked.

Any ideas why a new PC would be doing so badly?

PC Specs
Time of this report: 4/28/2010, 15:39:31
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.100216-1514)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: GA-MA770T-ES3
Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X2 545 Processor, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
Memory: 3070MB RAM(DDR3)
Page File: 348MB used, 12561MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

Graphics Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GT 240
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce GT 240
Display Memory: 1024.0 MB

Drive: C:
Free Space: 734.5 GB
Total Space: 763.1 GB
File System: NTFS

My first thought is make sure you have your chipset drivers and/or application accelerator for your CPU installed. Has it been happening since you loaded XP or did it start at some point since? Does this happen in spikes or constantly? It sounds like something is really bogging you down, check your Task Manager for any processes eating a lot of CPU/RAM.

Make sure you have up-to-date flash and java as either of those in error can cause some serious lag on a system and if you're like me, you've almost always got a browser open.

I installed the Chipset drivers that came with the motherboard. At first the entire PC was ungodly laggy, but that freed up after the drivers were on and it was rebooted.

It freezes up constantly throughout the day. Only things that are eating a lot of memory in my Task Manager are FFXI and Firefox, those are both 110k~130k+, while everything else is 25k or less.

I downloaded the latest version of Flash the day that I got it up and running but I've not put Java on it yet, not found a need to yet.

Use chrome!

The same thing happened to me right after I built my current computer a few months ago.

Turns out I just needed to update firefox.

Updating to the most recent version has fixed all of the "freezing" for me.


I don't know if that is the case for you but it's worth a try.

If it's only Firefox acting unusual I'd think perhaps it was a plugin issue - are you using any?

It's a long shot, but if you use online banking certain groups strongly recommend a security program called "Rapport" (or something similar, it's been awhile). If you're using that it could be the problem - many, many people report either crashes with firefox or extreme amounts of resources being clogged up by it. Even with firefox not running it can cause problems.

Firefox has an issue with noscript and cookies. The more exceptions with noscritp you add for different sites and more cookies you save the SLOWER it starts up when you exit out fo it the next time.

It runs same speed once it starts up, but it starts slow, it's just something about the way it's programmed idk about it's tech that's just what I have concluded, maybe try using Opera, it seems faster, I just prefer the firefox look.

My pc is about the same as urs, i built a new one 3x better and it didnt do this for a few weeks till i started packing ***onto firefox lol.

Apparently my version of Firefox is the newest available.

In terms of Plugins I have,

Extensions
FoxClocks 2.5.46
Lazarus: Form Recovery 2.0.5
M$ .NET Framework Assistant 0.0.0 (how that even exists, I'm not sure >_>;)
NoScript 1.9.9.69 (Just updated it to .71), waiting on Firefox reboot.


Plugins
M$ DRM 9.0.0.4503 (DRM Netscape Plugin)
M$ DRM 9.0.0.4503 (DRM Netscape Network Object)
Mozzila Default Plug-In 1.0.0.15
Shockwave Flash 10.0.45.2 (Shockwave Flash 10.0 r45)
Windows Media Plugin Dynamic Link Library 3.0.2.629 (Npdsplay dll)
Windows Presentation Foundation 3.5.30729.1 (Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) Plugin for Mozilla Browsers)


Unfortunately, it's been doing this since it first started up. So I don't want to put it down to being full of random crap just yet XD

EDIT: I've never heard of Rapport, so that's a no-go for me~

When you notice applications being slow to open do you already have firefox running?

I'm not sure if this is very relevant, but I used to have the same thing happen to me on an old comp. My video card was absolute crap and any time I ran a game and had Firefox open, Firefox would run incredibly slow. If I tried to tab too quickly between them, Firefox would just stop responding and crash. I wiped it constantly, hoping that freeing up memory, space or something else would fix it but luckily the entire thing crapped out on me within a year of getting it and I got it replaced with the warranty.

Applications are only sluggish when they're loading, normally taking 1~3 minutes to begin opening. Afterwards though, they run perfectly fine. The only app I have issues with, after it's loaded, is Firefox. Even when I only have Firefox opened, it still has issues staying stable.

I originally thought it may have been the video card, but the place I bought the stuff from assured me that the one I had picked was more than adequate for playing games and browsing the internet.


I think I'll download Chrome and try that, I've heard good things about it in general, I was just reluctant to give up my Firefox.

Why are you using XP with those specs?

Also Chrome is awesome, Lots of apps that don't slow it down, and generally pleasing to the eye.

Firefox has been real buggy since the last patch release, After using the program for 4 years I had enough of it within 3 and a half weeks, I'm not a proud user of Google chrome, So smooth browsing, So crisp and clean, and Not a single crash or freeze since installing it.

I used Chrome for a bit, but it was more of a resource hog than Firefox was. The only plus to it was that I could end task on particular tabs that were causing problems. (Edit: I maintain anywhere from 10-30 tabs on a normal day of browsing)

I stopped using it completely within a couple weeks of starting.

I'm using the latest version of Firefox on my laptop and both desktops. Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 7 32-bit, and Windows XP (I've been lazy on cloning the win 7 desktop to a new HD for the XP computer).

FFXI and firefox don't get along on either of my desktops. The XP one is the worst of the two.

You should try the new chrome, it is far superior now-a-days, seeing as they were about on par at release it's to be expected.

I lol when people try to justify using Firefox now-a-days.

And what is 'now-a-days'? How long ago did it make a drastic change?

I lol when people are omgChromeonry.

It's been having small performance updates since it was released.

the only reason I can see people using firefox now is because "lolrebellol"

It's better than IE, but yeah, everything is better than IE.

It hasn't been that long since I used it. I honestly don't expect it to perform better than firefox strictly because of the amount of tabs I use.

Does chrome still have the base 25,000 or whatever memory per tab it uses automatically?

Yeah, doesn't take much to be better than IE.

Nah that was a memory leak it was having in its early days, They've lowered it to about 5-12 depending on the content of the page ofc.

Good to hear. I might redownload it some time and check it out again.

In the Linux 64-bit pre-release I get about 15mb a tab regardless of content, but it runs so. fast. I love Chrome and now that I've got an adblocker and mouse gestures plugin and flash working I've got no reason to go back to Opera or Firefox.

To the OP: Definitely check it out, but Chrome won't help your slow app loading. Are you using an untouched version of XP or is it modded? I don't have the issue with slow app opening but ever since the last time I updated my XP partition my system intermittently freezes so badly the task manager won't even update if its open. Lasts a few seconds and goes back to normal. I got tired of messing with it.

Try updating your SATA controller firmware and running a diskcheck. If your harddrive is encountering bad sectors it can cause this kind of lag. If that doesn't work I suggest trying another OS and see whether or not you still have the problem to determine definitively if its hardware or software related. You could've gotten a lemon part, afterall. idk what other resources are out there to do it, but regardless of whether you want to install it or not an ubuntu live disk comes with a partition editor that will allow you to resize a defragmented NTFS partition with no data loss. That'll allow you to put something else on there and try it out with a minimal amount of bother.

Firefox never played nice with me either when I had it. Dumped it fast for Opera. Chrome is also good.

The issue you're having may also be related to your power supply. Download HWMonitor (freeware) from http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php and check your line noise/strength. If any of the values are more than 3-4% off, that may be your issue. Try loading an intensive app while watching the signals and see if there is a noticible drop in the 5v or 12v lines.

Also, make sure your videocard drivers are up to date, as well as any specific chipset drivers. The ones included on your mobo install cd may be several versions old, and in some cases can even be beta builds... Also, if a new BIOS is available for your mobo, be sure to grab it.*

Best of luck to you.


*NEVER toy with the BIOS unless you are 100% sure you know what you're doing. This is one of the easiest ways to brick a pc and create a useless mobo/system.

Ummmm...
That's your first problem.

Windows does not like paging to things over 1-200 gb, it has serious issues, especially something as old as XP (yeah I know XP is still great, but newer systems handle larger disks better)

You need to split a lot of that space off into other partitions.

You know Oyoyu, I never even saw he was running XP...

I know that XP has severe issues with 1TB HDDs and larger, but I'm honestly not sure where the limitation actually kicks in.

To be bluntly honest though, you're limiting your performance and support options by running WinXP. Several large component manufacturers don't even offer WinXP support anymore. Not to mention you have a fairly decent videocard if you have the GDDR5 version of the Geforce 240... yet by using WinXP, almost a quarter of the features that card offers are unavailable to you.

I did have this problem, if you look it up on the firefox help site, they give you instructions to alter the settings in about:config and it really makes a difference.

That's an excellent point. You may as well get something with 64 bit support while you're at it too... You know I gotta suggest Linux Ubuntu Karmic Koala... Works with almost no effort and there's lots of support info out there a Google search or IRC chat away. With Wine you can use many windows apps including FFXI, and the ones you can't there's often a (free) open source alternative to that's just as good unless its something obscure. Which, I might add, you don't need to scour the net for as they're either available with a terminal (cmd like thing) command or through the software center located right in your start menu equivalent. Viruses are on the "theoretically possible" level and Linux has long been the most stable of the major operating systems.

Try it, you'll be happy you did. If you possess common sense you'll likely be a fish in water in about a week. Did I mention its free and legal? Let me know if you decide to give it a go and I'll give you my IM info or something and help you get started.

I've been a Linux Fan for a few years now, I could never get Wine to work with FFXI the last time I tried though XD (FFXI being the reason I put my old Linux PC in the attic)

To toss up a quick reply to a couple of the questions asked in here,

I use XP because I hate Vista with a passion, I'm still forced to deal with it on my brothers PC and mum's laptop. When Windows 7 was released, I asked a few of my friends who used it for gaming and they said it wasn't as good as XP in terms of general gameplay (slower to respond, longer to load things, etc). I've seen Windows 7 and for the most part it doesn't seem a bad OS.


I've also been using ~600GB HDD's with Windows XP since it was released, so I'm not sure whether the issue is because this is a little bigger than the last ones, or whether it's just playing up.


At the moment, I've downloaded Chrome. It seems to be responding much better, I've not had a single freeze since around 3PM yesterday.

Thanks a lot for the help guys! I'll let you know if I have any other issues =P